Let’s start to outsource it .. this is serious shortage in judicial skills. I am sure there are thousands available and educated lawyers in many other countries.
South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
21–30 of 121 posts
Re: South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
No it shouldn't. Every state has elected judge positions, and they only require being able to win an election. In my home state of PA a local magistrate was caught by the FBI trying to fix cases of people who appealed her judgments, was removed from the bench for 6 months, and still ran for reelection unopposed. The people we let get elected to judicial positions is scary.
Judges shouldn’t be elected at all, they should be appointed in a non partisan process, from a pool of experienced and respected lawyers.
The law is supposed to be relatable and human. It is already twisted enough as it is, I would hate to see it under that kind of system.
Re: South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
No it shouldn't. Every state has elected judge positions, and they only require being able to win an election. In my home state of PA a local magistrate was caught by the FBI trying to fix cases of people who appealed her judgments, was removed from the bench for 6 months, and still ran for reelection unopposed. The people we let get elected to judicial positions is scary.
Judges shouldn’t be elected at all, they should be appointed in a non partisan process, from a pool of experienced and respected lawyers.
That is by construction a partisan process, with the outcome matching politics of the median lawyer, instead of the median voter.
Re: South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
#24>Over the years, their numbers have included construction workers, insurance agents, pharmacists — even an underwear distributor. Pharmacists are hardly uneducated buffoons. And, what are we to make of 'underwear distributor'? Is there a correlation between a business person's judgment and the items they sell? I doubt it. I can guarantee that the blueprints a construction worker uses, the policies an insurance agent…
The point is pharmacists have 0 legal training. No matter their expertise I wouldn’t want the construction worker working as my pharmacist without any training. Yet we’re ok with giving essentially the entire power of the state to people with no training or experience in law.
> we’re ok with giving essentially the entire power of the state to people with no training or experience in law
Yes, that's what democracy is, for better or worse: the power of the state is ultimately vested in the people, regardless of training, background, gender, skin color, etc. etc. Restricting power to those who are trained in law, or any other narrowly defined group, is called oligarchy. It generally has good outcomes for the oligarchs and those who are close to them, not so much for everyone else.
Re: South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Judges shouldn’t be elected at all, they should be appointed in a non partisan process, from a pool of experienced and respected lawyers.
The law is supposed to be relatable and human. It is already twisted enough as it is, I would hate to see it under that kind of system.
So in other words, you would hate to see the legal system in Canada? Because that’s how it is here. We don’t elect judges at any level. We seem to be getting along just fine.
Re: South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Judges shouldn’t be elected at all, they should be appointed in a non partisan process, from a pool of experienced and respected lawyers.
That is by construction a partisan process, with the outcome matching politics of the median lawyer, instead of the median voter.
Partisanship is a state of mind moreso than a formal system. Judicial appointments in Canada are non partisan. The politicians who appoint them are operating under the principle of “who would be the best judge from among these candidates” rather than who is my closest ally.
Elected judges are entirely the opposite.
It sounds like the entire judicial branch of the United States has become politicized. That’s really unfortunate. It’s not the case in other countries.
Re: South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point is pharmacists have 0 legal training. No matter their expertise I wouldn’t want the construction worker working as my pharmacist without any training. Yet we’re ok with giving essentially the entire power of the state to people with no training or experience in law.
> we’re ok with giving essentially the entire power of the state to people with no training or experience in law Yes, that's what democracy is, for better or worse: the power of the state is ultimately vested in the people, regardless of training, background, gender, skin color, etc. etc. Restricting power to those who are trained in law, or any other narrowly defined group, is called oligarchy. It generally has good…
> Yes, that's what democracy is
No, it's not. It's perfectly reasonable in our democracy to expect judges to be trained in law in order to effectively do their jobs. Might as well let any random of the street be a doctor without training if that wasn't the case.
Non-legally trained people still participate through the jury system, and more importantly in the House where laws are created in the first place.
Re: South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
#28Europe is the only sensible place left.
Re: South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
#29Democracy is only supported until it gives the "wrong" results, then deafening outcry for bureaucrats and oligarchs and dictators. As if they give better results than democracy on average, LOL.
Re: South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Judges shouldn’t be elected at all, they should be appointed in a non partisan process, from a pool of experienced and respected lawyers.
That is by construction a partisan process, with the outcome matching politics of the median lawyer, instead of the median voter.
You want medical practice dispensed by the median doctor not the median patient. The median voter already sits on juries.